4 Community Regional Cops Still Possible

March 17, 1995|The Morning Call

A promising effort to organize the Colonial Regional Police Department in Northampton County has come untracked. But plans for the department that Nazareth and Bath boroughs and Lower Nazareth and Hanover townships voted to create last year can still be salvaged.

The snag came late last month when the Nazareth Police Association wrote to the commission planning the regional force and to borough officials, seeking assurances that their pay, pensions and other benefits would be protected. To a large extent they had been. The regional department had agreed to accept the association's contract. But nothing was in writing.

This concerned Nazareth police for two reasons. First, the regional department was to start up on July 1 but the association's contract with the borough runs through Dec. 31. The association wants assurance that the current contract will be honored until its expiration. Second, the regional department won't formally exist until all the member municipalities sign its articles of agreement. Technically, there is no department to give the police the guarantees they want.

This created a Catch 22 for the Nazareth police. Without question the transition to a regional department requires a leap of faith by all those involved -- but especially those whose jobs are at stake. It would be a tragedy if this effort fails in any degree for the lack of a few words on paper.

Without Nazareth, the regional force might not fail completely but it would certainly be considerably scaled down. As a result of the letter, and worries about the borough's legal liabilities, Nazareth Borough Council changed its mind about joining the force. Ironically, this will probably mean less job security for some Nazareth police. That's because half of the borough's 10-member force provides coverage for Lower Nazareth. Since the township plans to stay with the regional force, the services of those five officers won't be needed. Unless the borough wants to swallow the extra expense, those police officers may lose their jobs.

Detective Bruce Ruch, president of the association, thinks the letter "has been blown out of proportion." On Monday night association members will meet with the borough council's police committee to discuss their fears. It's not too late for Nazareth council members to change their minds again. Nor is it too late for the regional police commission to give association members a statement of their intent to honor their contract.

The Colonial Regional Police Force is a good idea. It's an even better one if Nazareth remains part of it.